Cartridge and projectile feeders or magazines for real and toy guns have long been known and are disclosed in a number of earlier patents. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,188 for “Feeders For Repeating Fire-Arms” issued in 1876 to Broadwell and purports to disclose a cartridge filled rotatable cylinder for placement atop a multi-barrel Gatling gun. Cartridges are arranged radially in stacked columns. When a stack is positioned above a delivery opening, the cartridges drop to a lip structure and into a barrel. The lip structure prevents premature entry of a cartridge into a barrel. At the top of each stack are a movable weight and a spring. U.S. Pat. No. 2,345,031 for a “Multiple Clip Magazine For Rifles” issued in 1944 to Carither purports to disclose an enlarge magazine holding multiple columns of multiple cartridges. The magazine has a central slot for directing cartridges to the rifle. Each column slides into location beneath the slot by manipulation of the operator as a preceding column is emptied. A spring is also manipulated by the operator and is placed beneath each repositioned fresh column to bias cartridges into the rifle.
A “Cylindrical Object Ejecting Apparatus” was patented in 1953 by Robertson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,646,786, and purports to describe a rotatable drum located in an aircraft, the drum holding Sono buoys that are successively ejected from the aircraft. The buoys are used to detect submarines. The drum is rotated to a discharge position from which ejector arms rotate to push a buoy out of an opening in the body of the aircraft. Three U.S. Patents, U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,383, issued in 1964 to Foster for a “Target Throwing Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,244,132, issued in 1966 to Leichner and others for a “Target Throwing Trap” and U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,828, issued in 1971 to Hansen for a “Target Projecting Device With Magazine Indexing Mechanism,” all purport to disclose target-throwing devices including a drum or platform where multiple stacks of clay pigeons are arranged about a periphery. Each stack is positioned such that the lowest clay pigeon in the stack is engagable by a throwing arm.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,673, entitled “Gun Powered Ammunition Magazine” issued in 1985 to Golden and purports to disclose a magazine for small arms which utilizes power from the weapon to drive ammunition rounds into the weapon. The magazine is a generally cylindrical housing storing about a hundred rounds in a multi-layer arrangement, each layer being aligned along radii of the housing. A patent entitled “Revolving Magazine For Pistols” issued to Hill and Spector in 1986, U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,063, and purports to disclose a revolving cylindrical magazine with a plurality of radial chambers, each for holding a stack of cartridges. A knob is provided to rotate the magazine to align each chamber with a barrel of the gun. In 1989, a U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,110, was granted to Fischer for a “Device For Storing Loading Ammunition In A Turret.” The Fischer patent purports to disclose a revolving magazine for a battle tank in which the magazine included radial chambers with spring loaded abutments for the stored shells. A chain-drive lifting device moves shells from the magazine to a main firing tube.
A “Modular Ammunition Packaging And Feed System” for a Gatling-type gun was patented in 1991 by Bender-Zanoni, U.S. Pat. No. 4,9082,650. The system includes a mechanized support frame for holding multiple magazine packs, one to each side of the linearly arranged frame where each pack is loaded with cartridges. The frame is connected to the gun by a flexible chute and a pack drive system is built into the frame. Loading is accomplished by replacing an empty pack on the frame with a loaded pack. U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,137, for a “Projectile Launcher,” in the form of a revolving magazine for shooting suction cup darts issued in 1992 to Clayton. Each dart when loaded into the magazine compressed a spring that was retained by a lever with a hook end, and the spring was released when the trigger was pulled. In 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,967 issued to Matsuzaki and Ishida for a “Disc Discharging Toy.” The patent purportedly discloses the firing of soft discs mounted in a cylindrical magazine. Discharge occurs by passing each disc between a battery powered spinning roller and an idler roller. In 1999, a U.S. Patent for a “Skeet Throwing Device” was issued to Kerr, U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,101, and purports to disclose a cylindrical housing for a plurality of skeet members that are discharged by two spinning tires.
Other devices using spinning wheels are disclosed in U.S. Application Publication No. 2002/0166551, entitled “Toy Projectile Launcher” listing Lee as an inventor, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,535, issued to Rehkemper and others in 2003 having the same title as the Lee Application. Both devices are toy guns for firing soft darts where multiple darts are stored in a clip or in a chute. Another U.S. Application Publication No. 2011/0113668, entitled “Multi-Clip Magazine Assembly For Rifles” listing Pestana as an inventor and purports to disclose a triangular shaped connector for engaging three cartridge clips, one clip mounted to each of the three sides of the connector. A coupling held by a screw holds the connector and magazines together when mounted to a rifle. When a magazine is empty and malfunctions, the screw may be loosened, the empty or malfunctioning magazine removed and a new loaded magazine mounted unto the connector.
These patents and applications and the devices disclosed are of some interest, however, they do not teach an efficient, simply constructed apparatus as disclosed in detail below.